{"id":62108,"date":"2021-04-01T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T12:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/?p=62108"},"modified":"2025-01-30T14:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T19:27:08","slug":"suicide-by-cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/suicide-by-cop\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicide by Cop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>In 1999, I was a young patrol sergeant working in a new division. Late one evening, I responded to a supervisor request on a domestic violence call in which the suspect attempted to stab his wife with a large kitchen knife. Little did I know that, in a span of less than 30 minutes, my life would be changed forever. While I and an arrest team were trying to locate the suspect, he suddenly charged out of his apartment, aggressively bearing down on us. He quickly raised his right hand with a metallic object in it and attempted to stab the closest officer. A less lethal beanbag round was fired without effect, and as he was attempting to grab the less lethal shotgun, the cover officer fired a single round, successfully ending the suspect\u2019s assault. I have seen people fatally shot before, but somehow this was different\u2014it was as though the individual had wanted to die. It didn\u2019t make sense. He was assaulting a team of seven officers, and he couldn\u2019t have known that a \u201cgreen-colored shotgun\u201d was less lethal. I remember checking on the officers directly after the shooting, to ensure that they were not injured. I approached the officer who had fired the fatal round and asked if he was OK. He responded, \u201cI don\u2019t know. How should I feel after killing someone?\u201d I found out later, based on statements from the family and a note left by the suspect, that this was a suicide by cop incident. The metal object in his hand was a metal pen, which he had used to write the suicide note.<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>This brief account by Los Angeles, California, Detective Charles Dempsey is typical of the type of encounter that has come to be known as suicide by cop.<\/strong> No officer or supervisor wants to receive this call. In suicide by cop (SbC), an individual who is experiencing a mental or an emotional crisis takes some overt action to engage a police officer in order to solicit a use of lethal force, with the goal of having police end the individual\u2019s life. In some cases, it involves a subject who plans the incident ahead of time with the full intent of drawing the officer in and doing something that will incite the use of deadly force. Alternatively, it may be a desperate criminal who would rather entice an officer to shoot than face apprehension and imprisonment. Or it may be a person who is emotionally disturbed and seizes upon the opportunity of using police as a tool to carry out a suicidal agenda. Regardless of the intent of the subject, all SbC incidents involve a police officer who is drawn into a highly intense situation that may well end with a loss of life. For the officer, SbC incidents raise thoughts of officer-involved shootings (OIS), administrative reviews, lawsuits, and other associated stressors of such a high-profile, life-threatening event (e.g., fear of being shot or forced into taking the life of another).<\/p>\n<p>It is interesting to note that while the likelihood of an officer encountering an SbC event is quite low, the dread experienced by officers when it comes to this type of incident tends to be high.<sup>1<\/sup> In fact, in 2010, the <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> published an article entitled \u201cPolice Fear \u2018Suicide by Cop\u2019 Cases. So They\u2019ve Stopped Responding to Some Calls.\u201d In this piece, the author reports on how some of the small and midsized law enforcement departments in California are no longer responding to suicide attempt calls due to the dangers faced by both officers and suspects, as well as the financial liability inherent in such cases. In the article, it is noted how some believe that police presence may heighten tensions and possibly lead to an increased likelihood that the person will respond with violence, thus triggering a potentially lethal response by law enforcement.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>While the beliefs accounted in the article are anecdotal (there is no research of which the authors are aware that has shown police presence increases the likelihood of a violent suicidal response), the author does cite data from an important study published in 2009 in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. In this study (hereafter the Mohandie study), police psychologist Dr. Kris Mohandie and his colleagues reviewed 707 OIS cases and determined that approximately 10 percent of these cases could be classified as SbC, and of the 256 SbC cases they identified, 51 percent resulted in the death of the subject and another 40 percent of subjects were injured. Further, officer injury occurred in 16 percent of cases.<sup>3<\/sup> Based on these statistics, one can easily see how these cases can strike fear in even the most seasoned police officer. But what if these statistics were misleading? What if it is possible for SbC cases to be managed without a high likelihood of death or injury to officers or suspects? What if, when approached differently, the vast majority of these cases can be safely managed with little or no force?<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #cc7a00;\"><strong>New Statistics for SbC Cases<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A study recently published in the academic journal <em>Police Quarterly<\/em> presents the findings of an analysis of SbC incidents managed by the Los Angeles, California, Police Department (LAPD) between the years 2010 and 2015.<sup>4<\/sup> The study was designed as an extension of the Mohandie 2009 data. As it turns out, the vast majority of prior SbC research has relied upon publicly available data drawn from media accounts (i.e., newspaper or internet stories) or OIS tracking systems. Mohandie\u2018s study was the latter, as it included cases drawn from a large OIS database. The newer study analyzed cases that were tracked by the LAPD\u2019s Mental Evaluation Unit (MEU). The MEU is a specialized co-responder team (CRT) of officers and mental health clinicians who are trained in crisis evaluation, negotiation, de-escalation, and recognition of behaviors indicative of a mental illness. Their job is to consult with patrol officers on calls involving mental health issues. Since its inception, the MEU has kept a database with detailed information and case reports regarding the incidents to which they have responded. For this study, all incidents identified by officers as SbC were reviewed and coded according to the same variables as those cases reviewed by Mohandie and his colleagues. The aim of the study was to determine whether the suspect characteristics and outcomes of the incidents from these two very different samples were similar, while also hoping to learn something about the characteristics of the incidents that were settled without any force versus those that ended with lethal or less lethal force. The results were quite revealing.<\/p>\n<table class=\"alignright\" style=\"width: 450px; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: none;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62117\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-1.jpg 703w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-1-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"463\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-2.jpg 710w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-2-292x300.jpg 292w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>A total of 419 SbC cases were analyzed and compared to the findings of the Mohandie study. Results revealed that the subject characteristics were quite similar across the two studies and that, for both, the typical SbC subject was male, in his mid-30s, with prior mental health concerns. However, when comparing the characteristics and outcomes of incidents across the two samples, notable differences were seen. The cases in the newer study were more likely to be calls for mental health issues or a suicidal subject; whereas, the Mohandie sample had more calls for domestic disputes and involved a suspect who was armed, aggressive, or under the influence of alcohol or who engaged in verbal or behavioral threats. While aggression and threats were also present in many cases in the newer study, these occurred with less frequency than in the comparative sample, although verbal suicidal communication occurred more frequently. The largest differences, however, were seen when comparing the outcomes of these incidents. In the Mohandie sample, 92 percent of incidents involved the use of lethal force; however, in the newer sample, only 2 percent of cases involved lethal force (see Figures 1 and 2). In the Mohandie study, the rate of subject death was 51 percent; in the newer sample, it was 1 percent. The rate of subject injury was 40 percent, and officer injury was 16 percent in the Mohandie study; while in the newer sample, only 3 percent of suspects and less than 1 percent of officers were injured (see Figure 3). Clearly, the cases reviewed in the newer study resulted in far lower rates of injury and death for subjects and officers alike and resulted in much less frequent uses of force. It was also noteworthy that the rate of hospitalization was far higher in the newer sample (82 percent) as compared to the prior study (7 percent).<\/p>\n<p>The current study also explored whether different case characteristics were associated with differing levels of force and found 13 variables that differed significantly across three levels of force (i.e., no force, less lethal force, and lethal force). The variables that were more strongly associated with lower levels of force included verbal suicidal communication, verbal threats, asking to be shot, verbally expressing a will to die, and inconsistent escape behavior. The variables that were associated with higher levels of force were harming others, behavioral indicators of suicide, behavioral threats, being armed, exhibiting aggressive behavior, resistance, noncompliance, and running to escape. As can be clearly seen, the variables associated with higher rates of force in SbC cases are those indicators that would lead to use of higher levels of force in any police encounter, not just those of SbC incidents. These results are reassuring.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62121\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"880\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-3.jpg 1213w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-3-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-3-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBC-Fig-3-768x417.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #cc7a00;\"><strong>Hope for Successful Management of SbC Cases<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>What can law enforcement agencies take from these findings? First, the LAPD study is one of the few studies to look at data drawn from an internal police database as opposed to publicly available sources like media reports and OIS tracking systems. Because this approach is somewhat novel, the results should be kept in the proper perspective. Clearly, more studies along these lines would help to substantiate the findings. However, the data from this study provide initial evidence for the successful management of a large majority of SbC incidents without the use of lethal force.<\/p>\n<p>Second, it is important to consider possible explanations for the differences seen between the Mohandie study and the newer one, and the most likely explanation is the differing sources of data. Clearly, when one looks at a sample made up entirely of OIS cases, by definition, these cases will involve the use of lethal force. Therefore, those using such a sample has no chance of capturing cases that may have been resolved without force. This may lead one to question whether or not the cases reviewed in the recent study were even capturing the same phenomenon as those reviewed by Mohandie and his colleagues. When comparing the demographics of the two samples, they were remarkably similar, and in this current study, the cases were identified as SbC by the responding officers only when a clear indicator of suicidal intent was displayed during the incident. Therefore, this study captured the same types of cases, but clearly a broader range of outcomes due to the more inclusive dataset examined.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #cc7a00;\">\u201cMaking mental health and de-escalation training for officers a priority can potentially have a large pay off.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Third, these findings naturally lead to the question: Why? Why is there such a low rate of death and injury in this sample compared to the Monandie results and virtually every other study that has reported lethality rates for SbC cases?<sup>5<\/sup> It is believed that the source of data as well as the type of officer response provides the answer. As noted above, the recent LAPD study includes both nonlethal and lethal SbC cases, therefore allowing for the nonlethal cases to be included in the outcome statistics, an element missing in other studies. However, beyond just the data, the successful outcomes also appear to stem from the standardized training and department-wide strategy that is used by the LAPD when responding to these types of cases. These include the availability of the MEU officer-clinician teams who responded to these incidents and the same standardized training provided to all patrol officers as a part of an overall department response strategy to incidents involving persons experiencing a mental health crisis. When officers have the background, knowledge, and experience to manage an encounter with someone who is emotionally disturbed, it is an added skill set, which helps them to successfully de-escalate and manage these difficult and potentially dangerous calls for service.<sup>6<\/sup> Therefore, this study\u2019s findings appear to show that, when proper training and department-wide strategies are in place, the successful management of SbC incidents is not only possible but likely. Above all else, the study\u2019s findings provide hope for agencies, officers, and communities alike that SbC cases can be successfully resolved without the application of lethal force.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #cc7a00;\"><strong>Conclusion and Recommendations<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> article previously discussed states that some police agencies were adopting a non-response policy to suicide calls out of concern that a police presence would increase the distress of the individual and enhance the likelihood of a suicidal outcome.<sup>7<\/sup> However, there are serious potential repercussions to this approach. Simply not responding to suicidal calls for service, without a formalized strategy, can result in situations that can quickly escalate into a critical incident, endangering public safety and likely damaging community-police relations. Further, in Mohandie\u2019s sample of strictly OIS SbC cases, only 8 percent of calls were initially for a suicidal individual, and in the newer sample\u2014where cases were much more likely to have a mental health element\u2014still only 23 percent of cases were identified at the outset as suicidal individuals.<sup>8<\/sup> According to a typology of SbC cases first proposed by researchers Robert Homant and Daniel Kennedy, SbC cases can be characterized as one of three types: direct confrontation (suicidal individual who plans ahead with explicit intent to be killed by police), disturbed intervention (irrational and emotionally disturbed suspect whose encounter with police becomes SbC), or criminal intervention (criminal suspect decides during incident to elicit death over capture).<sup>9<\/sup> Given these three types of cases, the only one in which a preemptive \u201cstand down\u201d strategy would have been possible would be the direct confrontation, where the suicidal intent was known up front, and these cases have been found to occur in only 16\u201330 percent of SbC cases, depending on the study.<sup>10<\/sup> Therefore, simply not responding to suicidal calls for service, without a formalized strategy, is not a sound approach for law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #cc7a00;\">\u201cWhat if it is possible for SbC cases to be managed without a high likelihood of death or injury?\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What then can agencies do to provide an effective response to these potentially violent encounters? Some communities such as Houston and Harris County, Texas, have engaged in a 911 diversion strategy, realizing that not all mental health crisis calls are equal, nor do they all require police response.<sup>11<\/sup> The Houston Police Department has partnered with the Harris County crisis line to have a crisis worker housed in the public safety answering point (PSAP) who triages and manages many calls that would have previously been dispatched to uniformed officers in the street. If the call cannot be handled by the crisis line, then it can be returned for police dispatch.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, some 911 suicide calls do require an immediate response and tactical management by the police. During these incidents, tactical disengagement is another strategy that can be considered when continued contact may result in an undue safety risk to the subject, the public, or police personnel. This is similar to the \u201cbalance test\u201d many agencies use in the management of vehicle pursuits. In conjunction with this tactical disengagement, it is prudent to develop a plan to reengage that person later, when the crisis has passed, to provide him or her with mental health resources.<\/p>\n<p>For those cases necessitating a law enforcement response, existing research suggests that one key to successful management of SbC cases is effective behavioral recognition and de-escalation training for responding officers.<sup>12<\/sup> Thus, all agencies are encouraged to consider crisis intervention team (CIT) or some equivalent training for some or all of their patrol force. Such an approach has been adopted by communities and jurisdictions across more than 40 U.S. states, and in some states, including Maine, Connecticut, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Utah, Kentucky, Texas, and California, it has been adopted as a statewide initiative.<sup>13<\/sup> In large departments, it may be financially and practically feasible to develop co-responder teams as a complementary strategy, similar to the MEU, which is an established response strategy within the LAPD and many agencies across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.<sup>14<\/sup> While clearly not all police agencies will have the resources available to them that the LAPD does, making mental health and de-escalation training for officers a priority can potentially have a large pay off that includes improved officer safety and fewer applications of lethal force, which in turn leads to fewer administrative reviews, lawsuits, and other degrees of negative public scrutiny.<sup>15<\/sup><\/p>\n<aside class=\"pullout alignleft\"><strong>IACP Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/suicide-loss-first-aid-how-police-officers-can-assist-suicide-survivors\/\">Suicide Loss First Aid: How Police Officers Can Assist Suicide Survivors<\/a>\u201d (article)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/chiefs-counsel-mitigating-suicide-threat-response-risks\/\">Mitigating Suicide Threat Response Risks<\/a>\u201d (Chief\u2019s Counsel column)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/responding-to-calls-with-suicidal-suspects-practical-command-and-psychological-considerations\/\">Responding to Calls with Suicidal Suspects<\/a>\u201d (article)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/aside>\n<p>Finally, because this is an important topic that deserves closer scrutiny in order to develop more evidence-based recommendations, it is suggested that agencies begin to track these types of calls for service and their outcomes. Developing a standardized reporting or tracking system to capture the basic details regarding these calls for service, the subjects, and the outcomes, can allow for analysis of cases, which will lead to a clearer understanding of what factors lead to successful versus negative outcomes. It is hoped that, as this line of research continues, further work can be done to develop tools for officers to use in assessing possible SbC situations that would lead to matching the situation with a response that has been shown to help reduce this particular type of threat. However, this work can be done only with continued tracking and analysis of these high-risk calls for service. It is hoped that, for now, the data discussed herein will give law enforcement officers, agencies, and communities some hope and understanding of this complicated public health and public safety concern.\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Webdings;\">d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>H. Range Hutson et al., \u201cSuicide by Cop,\u201d <em>Annals of Emergency Medicine<\/em> 32, no. 6 (December 1998): 665\u2013669; Laurence Miller, \u201cSuicide by Cop: Causes, Reactions, and Practical Intervention Strategies,\u201d <em>International Journal of Emergency Mental Health<\/em> 8, no. 3 (Summer 2006): 165\u2013174; Kris Mohandie, J. Reid Meloy, and Peter Collins, \u201cSuicide by Cop among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases,\u201d <em>Journal of Forensic Sciences <\/em>54, no. 2 (2009): 456\u2013462; Robert Homant, Daniel B. Kennedy, and R. Thomas Hupp, \u201cReal and Perceived Threat in Police Officer-Assisted Suicide,\u201d <em>Journal of Criminal Justice<\/em> 28, no. 1 (2000): 43\u201352; Miller Anthony Pinizzotto, Edward F. Davis, and Charles E. Miller III, \u201cSuicide by Cop: Defining a Devastating Dilemma,\u201d <em>FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin<\/em> 74, no. 2 (February 2005): 8\u201320; Clinton R. Van Zandt, \u201cSuicide by Cop,\u201d <em>The Police Chief<\/em> 60, no. 7 (July 1993): 24\u201330.<\/p>\n<p><sup>2<\/sup> Anita Chabria, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-08-09\/suicide-calls-california-cops-stopped-responding\">Police Fear \u2018Suicide by Cop\u2019 Cases: So, They\u2019ve Stopped Responding to Some Calls<\/a>,\u201d <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>, August 10, 2019.<\/p>\n<p><sup>3<\/sup> Mohandie, Meloy, and Collins, \u201cSuicide by Cop among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>4<\/sup> Alejandra Jordan, Nancy R. Panza, and Charles Dempsey, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1098611119873332\">Suicide by Cop: A New Perspective on an Old Phenomenon<\/a>,\u201d <em>Police Quarterly <\/em>23, no. 1 (March 2020): 82\u2013105.<\/p>\n<p><sup>5<\/sup> Homant, Kennedy, and Hupp, \u201cReal and Perceived Threat in Police Officer-Assisted Suicide\u201d; Daniel B. Kennedy, Robert Homant, and R. Thomas Hupp, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/leb.fbi.gov\/file-repository\/archives\/august-1998.pdf\/view\">Suicide by Cop<\/a>,\u201d <em>FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin<\/em> 67, no. 8 (August 1998): 21\u201327.<\/p>\n<p><sup>6<\/sup> Charles Dempsey, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/gould.usc.edu\/why\/students\/orgs\/ilj\/assets\/docs\/26-2-Dempsey.pdf\">Beating Mental Illness: Crisis Intervention Team Training and Law Enforcement Response Trends<\/a>,\u201d <em>Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal<\/em> 26, no. 2 (2017): 323 \u2013 340.<\/p>\n<p><sup>7<\/sup> Chabria, \u201cPolice Fear \u2018Suicide by Cop\u2019 Cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>8<\/sup> Mohandie, Meloy, and Collins, \u201cSuicide by Cop among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>9<\/sup> Robert Homant and Daniel B. Kennedy, \u201cSuicide by Police: A Proposed Typology of Law Enforcement Officer-Assisted Suicide,\u201d <em>Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management<\/em> 23, no. 3 (2000): 339\u2013355.<\/p>\n<p><sup>10<\/sup>Homant and Kennedy, \u201cSuicide by Police\u201d; Jordan, Panza, and Dempsey, \u201cSuicide by Cop\u201d; Mohandie, Meloy, and Collins, \u201cSuicide by Cop among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>11<\/sup>Darby Baham, \u201cFrom \u201cWhat If\u201d to Real Results: U.S. Police Departments Explore Innovative, Collaborative Ways to Address Growing Mental Health Crisis,\u201d <em>Justice Center: The Council of State Governments <\/em>[blog], March 29, 2018.<\/p>\n<p><sup>12<\/sup>Vivian B. Lord and Beth Bjerregood, Helping persons with mental illness: Partnerships between police and mobile crisis units. <em>Victims and Offenders <\/em>9, no. 4 (2014): 455\u2013474; Amy C. Watson, Michael T. Compton, and Jeffrey N. Draine, \u201cThe Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model: An Evidence-Based Policing Practice?\u201d <em>Behavioral Sciences and the Law <\/em>35, no. 5 \u20136 (September 2017): 431\u2013441; Amy C. Watson et al., Outcomes of police contacts with persons with mental illness: The impact of CIT. <em>Administration &amp; Policy in Mental Health &amp; Mental Health Services Research<\/em> 37, no. 4 (2010): 302\u2013317.<\/p>\n<p><sup>13<\/sup>Melissa Reuland, Laura Draper, and Blake Norton, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bja.gov\/publications\/csg_statewidelemh.pdf\"><em>Statewide Law Enforcement\/Mental Health Efforts: Strategies to Support and Sustain Local Initiatives<\/em><\/a> (Council of State Governments Justice Center, December 2012).<\/p>\n<p><sup>14<\/sup><em>Los Angeles Police Department: Mental Evaluation Unit<\/em> <em>Program Overview, <\/em>2017.<\/p>\n<p><sup>15<\/sup>Caroline Cournoyer and J.B. Wogan, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.governing.com\/topics\/public-justice-safety\/gov-police-chiefs-shootings.html\">How Police Chiefs Plan to Avoid \u2018Lawful but Awful\u2019 Shootings<\/a>,\u201d <em>Governing the States and Localities, <\/em>February 2, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #102c4e;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"623\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-62111\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Panza-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Panza-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Panza.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 170px) 100vw, 170px\" \/><big><strong>Nancy Ryba Panza<\/strong>, PhD, is a police psychologist and professor in the Psychology Department at California State University, Fullerton. She has spent 15+ years teaching, conducting research, providing clinical services, and serving law enforcement agencies. She has worked in state and federal correctional facilities and has served a wide range of police departments.<\/big><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"623\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-62112\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2-768x1153.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2-1023x1536.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jordan-2.jpg 1076w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 170px) 100vw, 170px\" \/><big><strong>Alejandra Jordan<\/strong> is a recent graduate from California State University, Fullerton, where she had the opportunity to work with the Los Angeles Police Department\u2019s Mental Evaluation Unit. Her areas of research interest include use of force training tactics, officer safety and mental health, and crisis intervention teams.<\/big><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"623\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-62113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"170\" height=\"243\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey-716x1024.jpg 716w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey-768x1098.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey-1074x1536.jpg 1074w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dempsey.jpg 1429w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 170px) 100vw, 170px\" \/><big>Detective III (ret.) <strong>Charles Dempsey<\/strong> has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement. As the officer-in-change of the Los Angeles, California, Police Department\u2019s Mental Evaluation Unit, he was responsible for the design, development, and delivery of training curricula regarding police interactions with persons with mental illness.<\/big><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Please cite as<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Nancy Ryba Panza, and Charles Dempsey, \u201cSuicide by Cop: New Statistics and Insight for Managing Calls Involving Suicidal Individuals,\u201d <em>Police Chief<\/em> 88, no. 4 (April 2021): 48\u201353.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1999, I was a young patrol sergeant working in a new division. Late one evening, I responded to a supervisor request on a domestic violence call in which the suspect attempted to stab his wife with a large kitchen knife. Little did I know that, in a span of less than 30 minutes, my life would be changed forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4042,"featured_media":62116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mental-health"],"acf":{"subtitle":"New Statistics and Insight for Managing Calls Involving Suicidal Individuals","post_author":"Nancy Ryba Panza, PhD, California State University, Fullerton; Alejandra Jordan, MS, California State University, Fullerton; and Charles Dempsey, Detective III, Los Angeles Police Department, California","main_category":"Mental Health","legacy_article_id":"","legacy_issue_id":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.4 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suicide by Cop - Police Chief Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/suicide-by-cop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suicide by Cop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1999, I was a young patrol sergeant working in a new division. 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